Intellectual property law is good. Excess in intellectual property law is not. This blog is about excess in Canadian and international copyright law, trademarks law and patent law. I practice IP law with Macera & Jarzyna, LLP in Ottawa, Canada. I've also been in government and academe. My views are purely personal and don't necessarily reflect those of my firm or any of its clients. Nothing on this blog should be taken as legal advice.

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Athabasca University decides not to renew Access Copyright license

Athabasca University is an innovative, bold and independent leader in distance education with a very sophisticated sense of the importance of copyright law and policy in the post-secondary milieu.

Athabasca is an objector in its own right in the current proceeding before the Copyright Board involving AC's attempt to impose a $45 mandatory tariff on each university student, which is a 1,300% increase over the expiring negotiated and voluntary basic license rate.

It has just announced that it will not renew its Access Copyright license. According to Athabasca:

In order to protect students from a more than ten-fold increase in copyright fees, Athabasca University, like the majority of universities in Canada, has decided not to renew its licence with Access Copyright, a Canadian copyright licencing agency. The current agreement will expire on December 31, 2010.